That's the most important thing to me, and IMO, I don't think that they necessarily agreed with that statement. Some of the more serious history buffs could probably prove or disprove this theory more capably than I would be able to, though.

Sure, random spouses who never really interacted with the family afterward (like Nicole or Chloe) are one thing, but "family friends" are another matter entirely. I'm sure that Tom and Alice have probably given ornaments to people in the past who weren't "technically" Hortons (like Doug, as someone mentioned above) -- they were considered to be family, surnames and blood be damned, and that was all that would have mattered to Tom and Alice. Frankly, that's all that matters to a lot of people in real life, so I don't find it odd at all.

It's easy to try to apply our own rules to the tradition, but I think that it's important to remember that they're our rules -- not necessarily Tom and Alice's.